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id.0 W.6/. lacI 0 #1•72-Ly. Militi//9 ...-'. /"'40/4.'2:. ® 4 4 - .1 M (r ..... .*N..• 4.- ... *, -.- 9- •e#*-w.*••(*<VAT••Li• -3;1't< A-, 042ic.,Author Kyle Williams' Maine Central boxcar rolls past fall foliage at Mt. 41,1.4-4 ,-* 9 '1, ...9. , i , .-- ..1*01.jifil•=.2..:21kikji-h-4,79:•r...A, Ald,3-4 Otter, Vt., on the Rensselaer Model RR Society's HO scale New England, - f . «f•. r '- .'-=- ... . ." I . . ..,...- '-- r:«e,4.S41.,4: 1 2-)f ... -Ie -r.John Nehrich .,. Berkshire & Western. Note how much lower the ARA-design MEC car is compared to the AAR car behind it -the contrast is entirely prototypical. Maine Central ARA-design boxcar BY KYLE WILLIAMS Improving the accuracy of an HO kit plastic boxcar with decals slapped on. rpO BALANCE the freight car roster 1 for the Rensselaer Model RR Society's 1950-53 operating session, Geoff Hubbs crunched some numbers on his Apple and came up with a recommendation for how many cars we should have from each railroad, based on roster size and interchange factors. The club's home road, the New England, Berkshire & Western, should have 160 out of a total of 400, the mighty New York Central 55, Canadian National 33, Pennsylvania RR 32, and so on. The Maine Central, along with a num- ber of smaller and/or more distant roads, should be represented by just one car. The Pine Tree Route is a particular favorite of mine, and I decided to see that our one MEC car was both accurate and representative of the Maine Central fleet, not just any convenient HO scale including Baltimore & Ohio, Boston & A photo in New England States Lim- Maine, Central of New Jersey, Chesa- ited got my attention: it showed MEC peake & Ohio, Erie, Lehigh New Engno. 5606, a steel boxcar of American land, Pere Marquette, Wheeling & Lake Railway Association design. I checked Erie, and of course MEC. This was proban 0/Ncial Railway Equipment Register ably because the PRR had proved its for 1949 and found that there were 996 worth and the ARA had designed it. To cars in the 5000-6003 series, out of a to- . ' . "r ,*MIC./19 .... - .r I.:r)Zilitill'illipilli:L -, - - 71& r: 914 *'W<1-·.254* MIT. - 'r ii/14* -Ar . :23.. -6. . P • + 41, 11 = 1*' 50 S>*# I ,-' Fof...U* 6 + . . 4. <;Ri>4,5" .. / ) AS , ... ... *31 a: - 1 1 ''&'•-1 - F ' --t./4 - . *, A. t* LE,Jgkr 1,•R :-7:=6 - G - today's modelers the ARA 1923 proposed tal of 4526 for the entire MEC roster. standard boxcar is better known as an This was by far the single largest Maine X29, but that's pretty close to the fact Central freight car class at mid-century. because the Pennsy dominated the ARA THE ARA BOXCAR Following WWI, the ARA attempted design committee at that time and had no small part in the design of this car. There are two main visual differences to provide its members with a series of between the ARA boxcar and the later standard freight car designs. It submit- Association of American Railroads stanted a design for a steel boxcar in 1923, dard boxcar (represented by the Athearn but failed to get the necessary two thirds vote. Meanwhile, the PRR went ahead car are fiat plates, rather than the corruand used the design for the cars of its class X29 -X for boxcar and 29 for its own design series. 40-foot boxcar kit). The ends of the ARA gations of Dreadnaught or other later de- signs, and it is about 142 feet lower. The ARA car's 8'-7" internal height .*r" ....-F.:---1- Other roads also used the ARA design, was the tallest possible at the time for a car that could see unrestricted use, although taller cars were being built. Clearances were continually being im· 3 proved, as the typical car at the turn of ·'. .·5 the century had been only 8 feet tall in4 side, while in 1937 the standard was ·: ' -:,1 .- *.•I i.. . •'li• -'.. .i036t=»• '- ..r .,2. ./ . \. I. ' • ' ,-2 ' ''i , ,. . · · ,. % *. 'A.:I. u.::)1:.E.f.,£'6'llk.:Z.k:•e•·. i i ,i - i i · St\- g-X:1••••• , E,4/1 Xi . i'.1, r .., -036ki.; A'rry· •. raised to 10 feet-the AAR boxcar. THE MEC MODEL The old Train-Miniature line included a very accurate HO model of an X29, and this kit is now made by Walthers as . " ' its no. 932-2050. The T-M kit was my starting point, but I made some detail changes to more closely follow the MEC prototype and for the sake of overall ap- A Maine Central mixed train crosses the Connecticut R ver n 1948 w th an ARA des gn MEC boxcar Unlike the car Kyle modeled, no. 5746 has a pine tree herald nstead of the spelled out road name - 98 FEBRUARY 1986 Philip R Hastings . pearance. The numerous grab irons and ladders required by law for the safety of trainmen are typically represented on plastic models by cast-on ridges. It makes a world of difference when these are replaced with separate pieces. Removing the end ladders from cars . with ribbed ends can be a problem, so I often live with them as is, but the flat